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Their families had known one another, and Harmon herself came from a prominent family connected to sports and entertainment.
The couple eventually had four children.
Their daughter Tracy Nelson became an actress.
Their youngest son was Sam Nelson.
Between them came identical twins Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, born in 1967.
Those twins would eventually become musicians themselves.
Years later, they would achieve major commercial success as the rock duo Nelson.
But before they built their own careers, Matthew and Gunnar experienced a loss that shaped the rest of their lives.
They were 18 years old when their father began traveling toward Dallas for a New Year’s Eve performance in 1985.
Initially, they expected to be part of that trip.
Then the plan changed.
The Call That Changed Everything
In a 2005 interview with Larry King, members of the Nelson family discussed the final journey.
Tracy Nelson recalled that her twin brothers had been expected to travel with their father.
Matthew confirmed it.
According to Matthew, he and Gunnar wanted to spend New Year’s Eve with their father and had expected to join him during the trip.
But Rick changed those arrangements.
Instead of having his sons travel aboard the DC-3 with him, he told them to fly separately and meet him in Dallas.
The decision appeared ordinary at the time.
Only later did its significance become clear.
The twins were not aboard when their father’s aircraft departed Guntersville, Alabama, on December 31, 1985.
Nelson was heading to Dallas for a scheduled New Year’s Eve performance.
He never arrived.
Trouble Developed Thousands of Feet Above Texas
Nelson’s aircraft was a Douglas DC-3, registration N711Y.
There were nine people aboard.
They included the two pilots, Nelson, his companion Helen Blair, and five members of his touring group.